The Fireface 800 is the world's most powerful FireWire audio interface ever. Up to 56 channels
record/playback,
up to 192 kHz sample rate, and true FireWire 800 sum up to an unsurpassed high-end, high performance and high speed
FireWire audio interface.
Since the Fireface first shipped in July 2004, the unit became the reference for FireWire audio - and still is today!

The Fireface 800 combines the latest and also proven technologies of previous RME products with the
fastest FireWire technology.
Analog technology of the ADI-8 converters, microphone technology of the OctaMic, TotalMix technology of the Hammerfall
DSP series,
years of experience in programming of efficient and reliable drivers, up to complete support from
DIGICheck
- only the best of the best,
and even a bit more. The Fireface 800 offers the best worked out instrument input that could ever be found in an audio
interface,
a high power headphone output and signal-to-noise ratios of 119 dBA.

RMEs Fireface 800 is seen as reference by users and editors, when talking about FireWire audio and mobile recording.

Inputs and Outputs

Analog I/Os: Eight balanced line inputs and outputs with software controlled
switching
of the reference levels (-10 dBV, +4 dBu, HiGain), of course realized discretely in the
analog domain,
guarantee highest dynamic range and highest fidelity. Apart from the levels of the
microphone pre-amps
and the headphone outputs, all device settings are software controlled. Equipped with the
latest A/D and D/A converter chips,
all I/Os operate up to 192 kHz and reach 119 dBA dynamic range on playback - even the
headphone output (playback channels
9/10), whose high power technology delivers high volume even with low-impedance
headphones.

On the front side, the Fireface 800 has 4 discrete balanced microphone inputs with class-A stage,
separate activation of 48 V phantom power and separate XLR/TRS inputs, where the latter can also be used as
additional Line inputs. Two of the four mic inputs are permanently available as channels 9 and 10,
the other two can be used together with or alternatively to the inputs 7/8 on the back.

The FireFace 800's Hi-Z instrument input offers a soft-limiter, which has been tuned especially for
musical
instruments. Due to a soft transition and deliberate creation of harmonics, the input signal is compressed steplessly
according
to taste, or the limiter can be used for distortion with tube sound. Activate the Drive circuit too for broad guitar
distortion.
The Speaker Emulation filter, which can also be switched on separately, takes low- and high-frequency disturbances
away and guarantees
an optimal basic sound even when recording directly into the computer, or when monitoring through a mixing console.

Digital I/Os: Two ADAT optical I/Os allow for a connection and insertion of effects devices, mixing
consoles or external
converters. Of course, these 16 channels are available simultaneously with the analog
channels. Using two additional ADI-8 DS, there are 26 analog inputs and outputs, which
remain still 18 at 96 kHz. The coaxial SPDIF I/O works up to 192 kHz,
so that there are still 10 analog in- and outputs at the highest sample rate, plus two
digital ones.

Features

All inputs and outputs can be used at the same time*!. E. g., the instrument input can be used either instead of the
line input on the back,
or together with it. Even the TRS jack and the XLR socket of the microphone inputs can be used simultaneously.
This way, up to 35 signal sources can be connected to the Fireface 800 and recorded onto 28 separate tracks!

Thanks to the DSP-based
TotalMix mixer, known from the Hammerfall DSP series, all inputs and outputs can be freely mixed,
distributed and routed. Up to 14 completely independent stereo submixes are possible.
Each of the mixer's output channels, that is every single submix channel, can be recorded directly, without the need
of external cable loops.
And there's more: TotalMix can be MIDI remote controlled with any Mackie Control compatible controller.

All settings including TotalMix are recalled during boot via flash memory. After making all desired settings,
the device works stand-alone even without computer as a submixer, A/D and D/A-converter, headphone mixer, format
converter, instrument
or microphone pre-amplifier, monitoring mixer and much more.

SteadyClock allows the Fireface 800 to control the sample rate freely on its own.
The Settings dialog
includes a direct choice of the video and audio world's most often used sample rates.
Additionally, two faders
can be used to set the sample rate freely and in real-time, within the range of +/- 4% and +/- 0.4%.

Via an insert slot on the back, a Time Code Option
(TCO)
for synchronizing to LTC and video can be added.
Thanks to SteadyClock, the Fireface 800 does not only extract absolute positions, but also a very clean low-jitter
word clock.

The Fireface 800 has a second port for hub functionality, bi-lingual mode for full FireWire 400 compatibility,
and an additional FireWire 400 port. Several Fireface 800 can be used in parallel and at the same time on one
FireWire port.